Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Well… NOW what?!

When I’ve worked on a big project like this in the past, by the time the big event rolls around I’m usually SICK of what I’m doing and it takes every shred of self-control to stay focused and pull it off. Indeed in January I fully expected to be sick of Hordes of the Things and ready to move on!

While there have been things I thought might be fun to work on I had very little trouble staying focused. In fact I’m still totally fired up about HOTT – probably more so than I was a week or two ago!! There’s so many things I’d still like to do; forces to finish, additional things to add to current forces, new ones that might be fun… There’s so much in the game we haven’t even tried out yet!?

I’d like to try out some battles on 48”x48” playing surfaces – like it was suggested in my original HOTT and DBA books. I’d also like to try out some bigger battles – with up to ~36AP per side. I recently picked up a book of generic wargame scenarios I’d like to try tweaking them for use with my HOTT armies to give some ovjective other than simply smashing the opponent…

And that’s just in the fantasy milieu… I’ve become enamoured with the whole DBx thing and am keen to try it out for other periods or settings. Primarily I’d like to try out some Great War HOTT rules I came across. Conveniently I have Russian Civil War/”Back of Beyond” forces appropriately based and ready to go! I’ve also got some early war Germans and British I’m working on - painting some, rebasing others… I’m also keen to try the DBA 1500-1900 rules with my Seven Years War forces (also conveniently based on 60mm frontage bases…). I’ve even stumbled across WW2 and modern adaptations of HOTT I’d like to have a go at. (already thinking about how to rebase all those 20mm modern figures…).

Occasionally I even take a peep at the drawers full of ECW and Ancients (Romans… Successors… etc…)

Beyond all that HOTT/DBx madness I’d like to get back into some Savage Worlds skirmish gaming. I’ve had a hankering to play some Pulp Adventure and/or World War Two (or WEIRD War Two!?) games. I know some of the others would be keen to play some Victorian Horror/Sci-fi or Rippers…

Over the last few months I’ve been acquiring a number of old Eldar and Imperial Guard Catachan figures. I have no desire to play Warhammer 40K, but I like the figures and it brings back fond memoried of all the Rogue Trader skirmishing we did way back with whatever we happen to have… I though I might put together some forces for some Savage Worlds Sci-fi Skirmishing…

So maybe it’s time to come up with a new “Game Plan” so I can focus a bit instead of scattering off in all directions and accomplish nothing….

I have a number of forces I’ve acquired stuff for and would like to get going on. I would also like to expand upon some forces… here’s a list of what I have and what needs to be done (or rather what I’d LIKE to get done…)

Generic Armies

DwarvesI need to start by painting three stands of blades to replace the Dwarven Shieldmaidens that have left permanently for the Saphistic League of Unity and Togetherness (Amanda’s “HOTT Chick“ army). Easily done as I HAVE enough unpainted dwarves to make TEN more stands of blades – not to mention another artillery piece, four stand of shooters (handgunners) and three stands of miners (more blade…?). I really only need to paint six blade – three to replace the Sheildmaidens and then three to replace the Highlanders that will also at some point strike off to form their own army.

I have three more stands worth of unpainted Ghost Minis Dwarf Highlanders… I thought I’d pick up two packs of Westwinds Dwarf Was Dwarf Highlanders (10/pack = 20 = 3 stands of 6 plus two spares for skirmishing) and two packs of the Dwarf Highlander “Rammock Riders” (Dwarf Highlanders of bighorn sheep! 3/pack = 6 = 3 stands of two “riders”).

Not sure what I’ll do with the rest – the additional three blades, the miners (more blade?) and four shooters… Another command or army…? All I’d need is another Hero stand…!

ElvesI have no need to paint any Elves any time soon. I have 13 stands of rank and file 2AP type units (two Knights, two Riders, three blades, SIX shooters) and three magicians and two lurkers. Forty army points worth of stuff!! At some point I might paint up some more of the stuff I have to make two commands or two separate armies – one more of a “High Elf” army and another that’s more of a “Wood Elf” army… I have enough for another SIX Shooters, six Spear, three Blades (great swords), and two Knights… None but three of the stands of shooters look all that “Wood Elfy”…? Hmmmm…

OrcsNothing I really need to do with this one right this second… I have ~29 Army points of options right now (Hero, Artillery, three Behemoths, one Warband, six Hordes, Three Beasts, one shooter, and two lurkers….). The next things l’s like to add would be more Orc Warbands and Riders. I have about five to seven stands worth of Riders to be painted (depending on how many I put on a base), and anther seven or eight stands worth of Warband (again, depending…). If that weren’t enough I also have another three horde and two more behemoths!? (and that’s not even counting all the old stuff that could be stripped and repainted!?) Oh and I also have a couple of bizarre shaman types to paint which cold be clerics or magicians… gosh that’s getting awful close to 72AP worth of stuff if I got it all done… How cool would THAT be…!?

CentaursIt’s always been a dream to have an army of Centaurs – moelled after some nomadic steppe peoples (Scythians or Mongols..). Right now I only have one stand painted. They could be an allied contingent in a human or elf army perhaps. I have another 4-6 stands worth to paint (depending…). I think I’d call them all Heroes or Riders… Knights just haven’t worked out in HOTT.

UndeadI have none of it done. NONE. It seems like too much work to even contemplate right now. I know, you’re thinking; “skeletons, they’re totally easy..” Well maybe if their bare bones skeletons, but mine are mostly metal figures that have lots of scraps of clothes and stuff… I think they’ll just stay in the drawers for a later date…

HOTTiesThe Saphistic League of Unity and Togetherness – Amanda’s HOTT “Chick Army” is nearing completion… or at least fieldability… I currently have three Blades (Dwarf Shieldmaidens), two shooters (one Elf, one Ngoni), two Warband (Dark Elf Witch Elves), a Lurker (Dryads), and a Sneaker/Lurker (Halfling thieves) – that’s 16-18AP. The Hero General is very nearly done and a Magician could be stolen from the elves…. That would make 24AP. Darrin at the Dragon’s Den assured me that the Shadow Forge Female Centaurs I ordered would be in this week – another two riders… Reaper makes a lot of Angels and Succubus/Deamon types that I was also considering to add as Flyers… There’s a Female Giant made by Reaper I’ve been eyeing up…

Middle Earth Armies

IsengardMy army of Isengard could march to war! I have five Blades, four Spears, two Shooters, Two Warbands, one Beast/Rider, and, of course, one Magician (should Sarumon ever want to come out and play!). I have another three stands worth of Warg Riders – but they’re all broken and some are missing legs (that would need to be made anew out of green/brown stuff…) – which seems like a lot of work, so not really a “priority” right now…

RohanI have three stands of Riders done and another six to paint. I also have a Theodred stand (accompanied by the royal standard bearer and a royal guardsman) and an Eomer Stand (also accompanied by two royal guardsman). I had thought of classing them as Knights… but knights don’t seem to be working out so well in HOTT so I might class them as “Heroes”. I also have Theodred and Eowyn (and some more Mounted Royal Guardsmen) to make two more Hero/Knight stands… maybe they could be Paladins…? Hmmmm. Anyway, the idea is to be able to field the Rohirrim – an entirely mounted force!! Now that might not always work out so well so I also have a few foot – currently one stand of Shooters and one of Blade (or maybe “Spear”…) and another sprue of foot comig in the mail to make another stand of Shooters and amother stand or two of Blade and/or Spear… I should get cracking on these I have all I NEED and have an opponent (Isengard) finished!

MordorI have four stand of foot finished. I’m not entirely sure if I should class them as Blade or Warband. Probably Warband… I have another four of five stands worth of those to paint up plus a couple stands worth of archers and a troll. Just enough for an army. I would like to add an Aerial Hero (Witch King on Fell Beast!) at some point… Maybe when I finish painting all the Mordor stuff I already HAVE I’ll treat myself to one!

MoriaI have a General stand finished… I think I’d call him a Warband – then I have enough for nine or ten stands of HORDE to paint (not looking forward to that…)! I also have two cave trolls. Due to the large volume of work to be done on this it’s currently a “back burner” army…

Others… I have a number of other odds and sods for Middle Earth. I have a couple of fellowships… (why have just one!?) I have a Hero stand of Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas on foot partly completed – and if that weren’t enough I have them also on horseback for another Hero stand (just… don’t ask… I thought the mounted versions might look better if I were ever fielding them with the Rohirrim…?). I have Frodo and Sam and Gollum that I thought I’d use as sneakers - when I get them done… I have TWO Gandalf stands finished, both on foot, one grey, one white. I also have a Gandalf on Shadowfax to finish up (again, depending on the army he’s accompanying…).

I also have a handful of LOTR Elves and Dwarves. Like a stand of Elf Archers, and stand of Balin and his guardsmen and a stand of Dwarf Archers – none of which are painted. I really like the GW LOTR Dwarves and Elves. I think at some point I’ll probably pick up a couple boxes of Dwarf Warriors Which would get me four more stands of archers (4/stand) and five stands of Blade (6/stand). If I called Balin a Hero that would be an army right there! The Elves…? Feh! They’re leaving Middle Earth anyway, right? I might pick up a couple boxes of the Wood Elf warriors just to put a little contingent on the table if I wanted to do a Battle of Five Armies. If I did 4/stand for all of them I’d end up with 12 stands from two boxes…

Gondor might be a force to put together at some point in the future, but I should maybe finish up some of these others first. I’d also like to be able to do some of the other “Fallen Realms” – Khand, Mahud, Harad, etc. to do a big Middle Earth Camapign. Part of me wants to just find a suitable historical army and fake it…

Narnian Armies

NarniaI started reading the Chrinicles of Narnia last fall and got the idea that I could put together two armies to fight the battle at the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Some stuff I could pull from other armies: Dwarves, notably, and maybe some critters. I’ve picked up Hasslefree’s Medival Children to use as the Pevensies. Peter and Edmund I thought I’d put on a base with maybe a dwarf and some other critters and call them Heroes. Susan and Lucy I thought I’d put on a shooter stand – or at least Susan… I don’t know where I’d put Lucy… Cleric…? I need to find a big damn Lion fro Aslan – While reaper’s Celestial Lion looks cool – I’ll probably just find an appropriately sized plastic one at a toy store. I’m awfully tempted to order a bunch of Satyrs and Fauns and critters from Splintered light. Though Splintered light makes “15mm” figures the satyrs and fauns are apparently about 18mm tall and the walking talking critters are 12-20mm tall – which would make them about the right size for “28mm” talking beasts of Narnia.

Army of the White WitchAgain I can use Dwarves and Wolves from my other armies. I found a great figure for the White Witch – but it will require a bit of converting… I’ll need to find a bunch of other assorted nasty creatures and monsters.

Other odds and sods…

I have some Giants and Dragons (which we rarely use) and a God of Death. It’d be nice to pick up some stuff to use as flyers and airships and all the other stuff we never use… though I’m not entirely sure which army they might be used for..

ANCIENTS/DARK AGES HISTORICAL - HOTT/DBx

Some of these have blur the line between historical armies and HOTT armies. As fantasy is what most folks around here are interested in most of these will have fantastical elements added for use with HOTT. I’ve separated them from the “HOTT Armies” because they do have the POTENTIAL to be used as a straight-up historical army…

VikingsI have an army I can field as either a historical Viking DBA army or a HOTT one. I have enough unpainted figures to make a second army… I’d like to find some appropriate fantastical figures to make my army more… well… fantastical when playing HOTT – but I’m not entirely sure what to look for… maybe a great big hairy Norse-looking barbarian for a “Hero”…?

NormansI have enough stuff to make a historical Norman DBA army. I have a couple Knights done and some spear and a Cleric stand and peasant Horde for when I field it as a HOTT army. Nothing really I need to add to it. I just need to paint it! I can’t say I’m really excited about doing so since we have found Knights aren’t really all that great against most of the other HOTT armies I have.

Anglo-DanishI have one complete Historical Anglo-Danish DBA army more or less complete – but I hate all my spear stands. They’re almost all stabby-jabby thrusting poses which always makes lining up stands difficult and they’re always getting bent and broken. I think I’m actually going to have to just model an infantryman with a spear held upright and a shiled out in front and cast myself an ass-pile of them!

WelshI have enough Welshmen to make a historical Welsh DBA army – less the Cavalry General option… None painted. Nothing fantastical about them. Maybe they need a Dragonfor the HOTT options!?

ScottsGot ‘em, need to paint them.

IrishGot ‘em. Need to paint them.

PictsI’ve painted a couple stands of the Nekkid Warrior fanatics (Warband) and some archers/crossbowmen to use as Psiloi or shooters. I might need some Light Horse/Rider types…

RomansI easily have enough for two, maybe three Early Imperial Roman DBA armies… not sure who they’d fight against other than themselves…

Alexandrian SuccessorsAgain I think I have enough to put together any two Early Successor or Selucid DBA armies. One of these days…

GREAT WAR ERA – HOTT/DBx

Early WarIf a stand is approximately a company and 4 stands makes a battalion I have enough ready to go to make two battalions of British (well… one British, one Scottish) and Two battalions of Germans. I also have two squadron/stands of German Uhlans, and a battery/stand of field artillery and machineguns. I could quite easily crank out an couple squadrons of British Cavalry and have two machineguns ready to go, and could quickly rebase a field gun battery/stand. I’d like to try this out in the next couple weeks and if it turns out to be fun we can churn out as many as we like – I made the british myself and John has more Germans and French that would just need to be rebased, and tonned of Russians, Sebians, Austrians….

Late WarI have made Canadians and Germans. I have a regiment of Germans and two brigades of Canadians ready to go… and can cast more at anytime.

Russian Civil War/”Back of Beyond”I have White Russians, Bolsheviks and Warlord Chinese all ready to go… what are we waiting for!? I guess I have to read the rules again, clear off the games table which has exploded with all these figures I’m trying to take stock of, and invite some people over to game!

SEVEN YEARS WAR - HOTT/DBx

I easily have enough French to put together a little game to try it out – Five Regiments of Infantry (3 stands each), one regiment of Horse (three stands), and two stands of artillery. Unfortunately for the British I only have two regiments of infantry completed… I suppose I could set up a scenario game where the British are holding some defendable position and the French have to try and take it…?

Anyeay I have no shortage of stuff I can paint up for this as I bought a pile of specialist type things and I can cast all my own rank and file types.

I’ve had this idea that I could try and get the forces for Quebec ready for the 250th anniversary in September… Hmmmmm… I should figure out what I’d need to have done.

WORLD WAR TWO - HOTT/DBxI think most of my 15mm forces all have a common frontage (2.5”) – with the exception of small guns which have been based facing the short edge… Not sure if they really come into play in HOTT WW2 anyway… This would require no work to try out as I have stuff ready to go in 15mm.

The majority of the forces I have in 20mm haven’t been painted yet so it would be very easy for me to rebased those to a 60mm frontage. The 60mm frontage would first of all match all my other HOTT/DBx stuff (so I wouldn’t have to cut so many different sized bases) and it would also most easily facilitate 20mm tanks.

MODERN - HOTT/DBxAll of my modern stuff is 20mm and the infantry and vehicles are on bases of differing frontages. I’m not sure how big of a deal common base frontage would be for modern gaming…? But like the 20mm WW2 stuff I could rebase stuff to a 60mm frontage – and I could still use it for CWC (because base size does not matter at all for that…).

SAVAGE WORLDS SKIRMISHING

Victoriana (“Rippers”/Horror and/or Space 1889/VSF)Hmmmm… I have quite a bit of this. Just need to figure out some fun and interesting new ways to use them in scenarios. Some terrain might be nice and some fun vehicles – like ether flyers and steam tanks…

Pulp AdventureWorld War Two (Historical and/or Weird War)There is very little I need to paint for WW2 stuff. I just need to sit down and come up with some scenarios and start playing. I’d like to built a zeppelin and a tramp steamer and some other pulpy vehicles and terrain…

Okay, there are a few things still unpainted – a couple squads of Russians to finish off my under-strength COMPANY(!?), a KV-1, a PzkwIV, A Russian Jeep, Two squads to finish off a second platoon of British Paras (really… when am I ever going to use more than ONE!?), A squad of 8th Army British I just picked up, the better part of two hald-sections of British commandos to finish off my full assault troop, Some Commando support weapons, a handful of partisans/resistance fighters, odd and sundry Germans - some engineers and field police, maybe a fourth squad of them, and a few anti-tank guns and crews – British, Russian, and German! It sounds like a lot, but it isn’t so much.

At some point I’d like to pick up a few more vehicles – just light ones like a Panzer II or some armoured cars, maybe some desert jeeps, etc.

What I really need to work on for the skirmishing is the TERRAIN!! I have a pile of ruins and rubble terrain that’s half-built. If only I could find some time to finish it up…

Sci-fi I have none of the Eldar or Imperial Guard painted… There’s quite a few of them… I could throw in a Sci-fi skirmish with what I have of other sci-fi stuff from time to time, just to keep me thinking about it… once in a while squeeze a fire team of this or that into the painting queue…

THE PLAN

Well that’s what I’m thinking about these days and some of the stuff I have to work on. Now I just need to make some sense out of it all – decide what the priorities should be and make some sort of prioritized “TO DO” list….

In terms of what games to play it would make sense to try out some Great War era HOTT (or “HITT” – Hordes in the Trenches) as I HAVE a pile of stuff for it ready to go! If it works out maybe build on those forces…

I should work on another regiment or two of Seven Years War British, or maybe one regiment and a couple stands of British artillery. That way we could try out a small game of DBA 1500-1900 with about 12 stands on each side. Again, if it was fun and to everyone’s liking I have no shortage of more stuff I could paint up for it.

I’ve been kind of tired of WW2 stuff – well at larger than skirmish scale. But I have a lot of stuff that could easily be pressed into action for HOTT WW2… and it looks pretty similar to Modern HOTT… so… Or I could just re-base 12 stands of two of my 20mm Modern forces for a quick try of that variant – as I’m more interested in it anyway….

Of course there’s lots of things to try out with plain old fantasy HOTT and DBA…

I think I’d like to bring back Savage Saturdays – I’m somewhat reluctant to do so in the summer as I’d like to be able to get up early on Sunday’s and go for a bike ride… But if I kept it to skirmish games – and small, reasonable skirmishes with clear objective and a turn time limit… we could potentially finish up at a reasonable enough hour…

Hmmmm… I need to paint a couple units of cavalry for one John and a couple Descent figures for the other John…

I guess priority number one for this week should be to paint up six British Cavalry men for a little 1914 action and clear off the table! Maybe get painting some of the stuff for the Johns to get that out of the way!

3 comments:

I'm enjoying your blog. I've been considering building some new DBA armies (9 years since I put to gether the last one), and you're making HOTT is look more and more attractive. (I'm using 1/72 plastics.)

Did you find a fan-made musket era variant of DBA to play the 7 yrs war? I have long thought about using DBA to play the French and Indian War, but haven't worked out how to do that.